GARDEN FLOWERS. 



189 



PENTSTEMON BARBATUS. 



(VAR. TORREYI.) 



Pentstemon cobcea is an early variety blooming in sum- 

 mer and also Pentstemon barbatus, var. Torreyi. It is 

 somewhat rare. The foxglove-like 

 flowers are two inches or more 

 long in a spike of purple striped 

 with white. Petalostemon decum- 

 bens is one of the prettiest pros- 

 trate plants with stems a foot long, 

 on the ends of which are borne 

 dense spikes of deep violet-purple 

 flowers. It commences to bloom 

 in summer and lasts till frost. 

 Platycodon grandiflorum, large 

 bell-flower, is the same as Waldenbergia and Campanula 

 grandiflora. It is the largest of all the bell flowers. 

 The buds, before opening, become inflated like a balloon. 

 The flower is a shallow bell, two inches or more across and 

 deep blue. It blooms all summer 

 and is very attractive. Salvia 

 pratensis, meadow-sage, is twelve 

 to eighteen inches high, comes 

 from Europe, and bears long 

 spikes of rich blue flowers all 

 summer. Scaliosa Caucasica is a 

 handsome plant only a foot high. 

 It grows vigorously and bears free- 

 ly beautiful soft lilac flowers, that, 

 when cut, last a long time in water. 

 There are several herbaceous spireas that merit well a 

 place in the flower-garden. Spirce-a Filipendida, fl. pi. 



LARGE BELLFLOWER. 

 (PLATYCODON GRANDIFLORUM. 



